"If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time (7/24/16)

"If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in Heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"  

At this juncture of history, do we still "know how to give good gifts to...[our] children"?

"Good gifts" and the Federal Level

• YES to the Russell amendment, the Conscience Protection Act of 2016, the Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act (HR1299/S667), and the First Amendment Defense Act (HR2802/S1598); 
• NO to "the Separation Wall in the Cremisan Valley."

How is the Pa Delegation Responding (as of 7/23/16)?

Pa’s Delegation in D.C.	The 2016 Omnibus spending bill did NOT  include ANDA, but passed  the   House and  Senate.	As per the USCCB,  Support the Con-science Protec-tion Act  (S 304)	As per the USCCB, Support CWPIA (Child Welfare Provider Inclusion Act; HR 1299/ S667)	“If passed, the [Maloney] amendments could infringe upon religious liberty of federal contractors, critics say” (CNA / EWTN News, 5/27/16).		As per the USCCB, Support FADA (First Amend-ment Defense Act; HR2802/ S1598)	As per the USCCB, support the Russell Amend-ment to the National Defense Authori-zation Act.	As per the USCCB, Oppose “confi-scation of Christian lands in Cremisan Valley”
				See Final Vote Results for Roll Call 226	See Final Vote Results for Roll Call 258
1.    Bob Brady (D)	Voted Yea	Voted Nay		Voted Yea	Voted Yea
2.    Chaka Fattah (D)	Voted Yea	----------
3.    Mike Kelly (R)	Voted Noe	Voted Yea	Sponsor	Voted Noe	Voted Noe	Co- Sponsor
4.    Scott Perry (R)	Voted Noe	Voted Yea		Voted Noe	Voted Noe	Co- Sponsor
5.    Glenn Thompson (R)	Voted Yea	Voted Yea	Co-Sponsor	Voted Noe	Voted Noe	Co- Sponsor
6.    Ryan Costello (R)	Voted Yea	Voted Yea		Voted Yea	Voted Yea
7.    Pat Meehan  (R)	Voted Noe	Voted Yea		Voted Yea	Voted Yea
8.    Mike  Fitzpatrick (R)	Voted Yea	Voted Yea	Co-Sponsor	Voted Yea	Voted Yea
9.    Bill Shuster (R)	Voted Noe	Voted Yea		Voted Noe	Voted Noe
10.  Tom Marino  (R)	Voted Noe	Voted Yea	Co-Sponsor	Voted Noe	Voted Noe	Co- Sponsor
11.  Lou Barletta  (R)	Voted Noe	Voted Yea	Co-Sponsor	Voted Noe	Voted Noe
12.  Keith Rothfus (R)	Voted Noe	Voted Yea	Co-Sponsor	Voted Noe	Voted Noe	Co- Sponsor
13.  Brendan Boyle (D)	Voted Yea	Voted Nay		Voted Yea	Voted Yea
14.  Michael Doyle (D)	Voted Yea	Voted Nay		Voted Yea	Voted Yea
15.  Charlie Dent  (R)	Voted Yea	Voted Yea		Voted Yea	Voted Yea
16.  Joseph Pitts   (R)	Voted Yea	Voted Yea	Co-Sponsor	Voted Noe	Voted Noe	Co- Sponsor
17.  Matthew Cartwright (D)	Voted Yea	Voted Nay		Voted Yea	Voted Yea
18.  Tim Murphy  (R)	Voted Yea	Voted Yea	Co-Sponsor	Voted Noe	Voted Noe	Co- Sponsor
·     Bob Casey (D)	Voted Yea
·     Pat Toomey   (R)	Voted Noe

• Click to Email Pa's Congressional Delegation, asking for support of positions backed by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

 

"Good gifts" and the State Level

• YES to HB1623, HB1948/SB888; 
• NO to Planned Parenthood, SB 1350 (repealing Act 122 of 2011), repealing Act 13 of 2013, HB1336, HB1510/SB 974/SB 1306/SB1307/SB 1316, HB 1947, HB 162, and doctor prescribed suicide.):
• Click to Email the governor, as well as all of Bucks County's representatives and senators in Harrisburg, on pro life and pro marriage / family concerns.

 

"The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great, and their sin so grave, that I must go down and see whether or not their actions fully correspond to the cry against them that comes to me.  I mean to find out."  Have we also abandoned God's Good Gift of Sexual Relations (always to be open to life and reserved for husbands and wives in their permanent/indissolubile unions)? 

• "there is no greater mystery in the natural order of things than the fact that this closest of all unions procreates a human being with an immortal soul (although the soul, in each case, is a direct creation of God), and that this act brings a new being into existence destined to love God and to adore Him, a new being made after His image" (Dietrich Von Hildebrand, Marriage: The Mystery of Faithful Love, p. 26).
  
  "How terrible to think of man wanting to destroy this unity which God has established so mysteriously, deeming those united in the highest earthly union of love worthy to take part in His creative power" (p. 28).
  
  "He alone can understand the horror of the sin of promiscuity who has grasped the grandeur and sublimity of bodily union as the full realization of conjugal love, and who realizes that besides the primary end of procreation, the primary meaning of bodily union lies in the fulfillment of conjugal love" (pp. 30, 31).
  
  "Jesus has invested marriage with a dignity which represents something quite new....He raised it to the rank of a Sacrament. He made of this sacred bond a specific source of grace. He transformed marriage - already sacred in itself - into something sanctifying" (p. 53).
  

• "The dates of Natural Family Planning Awareness Week [July 24 - 30] highlight the anniversary of the papal encyclical Humanae Vitae (July 25) which articulates Catholic beliefs about human sexuality, conjugal love and responsible parenthood. The dates also mark the feast of Saints Joachim and Anne, the parents of the Blessed Mother" (USCCB)
• Quick Explanation re Catholic Teaching and Contraception  
• Alliance Natural Family Planning Network
• How "The Pill" works as an Abortifacient   
• How the Pill Kills

 

Also in the News....

• Free to Serve (USCCB, July 2016)
• Marriage: Unique for a Reason (USCCB, July 2016) 
• People of Life (USCCB, July 2016)
• Truth and Charity Forum (Human Life International, 7/11/16)
• Ted Cruz's Speech At The RNC (7/20/16)
• FridayFax (C-Fam, 7/21/16)
• Call to Prayer (USCCB, 7/22/16)
• Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation Summit: Sept 29 - Oct 1 (National Center on Sexual Exploitation)

...